outer space

outer space
    n 1: any location outside the Earth's atmosphere; "the
         astronauts walked in outer space without a tether"; "the
         first major milestone in space exploration was in 1957,
         when the USSR's Sputnik 1 orbited the Earth" [syn: {outer
         space}, {space}]
    

Space \Space\ (sp[=a]s), n. [OE. space, F. espace, from L.
   spatium space; cf. Gr. spa^n to draw, to tear; perh. akin to
   E. span. Cf. {Expatiate}.]
   1. Extension, considered independently of anything which it
      may contain; that which makes extended objects conceivable
      and possible.
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            Pure space is capable neither of resistance nor
            motion.                               --Locke.
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   2. Place, having more or less extension; room.
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            They gave him chase, and hunted him as hare;
            Long had he no space to dwell [in].   --R. of
                                                  Brunne.
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            While I have time and space.          --Chaucer.
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   3. A quantity or portion of extension; distance from one
      thing to another; an interval between any two or more
      objects; as, the space between two stars or two hills; the
      sound was heard for the space of a mile.
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            Put a space betwixt drove and drove.  --Gen. xxxii.
                                                  16.
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   4. Quantity of time; an interval between two points of time;
      duration; time. "Grace God gave him here, this land to
      keep long space." --R. of brunne.
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            Nine times the space that measures day and night.
                                                  --Milton.
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            God may defer his judgments for a time, and give a
            people a longer space of repentance.  --Tillotson.
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   5. A short time; a while. [R.] "To stay your deadly strife a
      space." --Spenser.
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   6. Walk; track; path; course. [Obs.]
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            This ilke [same] monk let old things pace,
            And held after the new world the space. --Chaucer.
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   7. (Print.)
      (a) A small piece of metal cast lower than a face type, so
          as not to receive the ink in printing, -- used to
          separate words or letters.
      (b) The distance or interval between words or letters in
          the lines, or between lines, as in books, on a
          computer screen, etc.
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   Note: Spaces are of different thicknesses to enable the
         compositor to arrange the words at equal distances from
         each other in the same line.
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   8. (Mus.) One of the intervals, or open places, between the
      lines of the staff.
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   9. that portion of the universe outside the earth or its
      atmosphere; -- called also {outer space}.
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   {Absolute space}, {Euclidian space}, etc. See under
      {Absolute}, {Euclidian}, etc.

   {deep space}, the part of outer space which is beyond the
      limits of the solar system.

   {Space line} (Print.), a thin piece of metal used by printers
      to open the lines of type to a regular distance from each
      other, and for other purposes; a lead. --Hansard.

   {Space rule} (Print.), a fine, thin, short metal rule of the
      same height as the type, used in printing short lines in
      tabular matter.
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81 Moby Thesaurus words for "outer space":
      China, Darkest Africa, God knows where, Greenland, North Pole,
      Outer Mongolia, Pago Pago, Pillars of Hercules, Siberia,
      South Pole, Thule, Tierra del Fuego, Timbuktu, Ultima Thule, Yukon,
      acreage, antipodes, area, astronomical unit, bottomless pit,
      bowels, breadth, celestial spaces, chaos, continuum, cosmic space,
      deep space, deeps, depths, dimension, emptiness, empty space,
      ether space, expanse, expansion, extension, extent, field,
      frontier, galactic space, gaping depths, godforsaken place, hell,
      infernal pit, infinite space, interstellar space,
      jumping-off place, light-year, measure, metagalactic space,
      nether world, nothingness, nowhere, ocean of emptiness, outback,
      outpost, outskirts, parsec, pole, pressureless space, proportion,
      space, spatial extension, sphere, spread, superficial extension,
      surface, the Great Divide, the South Seas, the boondocks, the moon,
      the sticks, the tullies, the void, the void above, tract,
      underworld, unfathomed deeps, unknown depths, void, volume